User Reviews

Very cloudy, particles floating throughout glass. Foamy, white head with a fair amount of lacing. Aroma is caramel malt, tropical fruit, herbal and citrus notes. Flavor is similar. Medium body, juicy mouthfeel. A very good beer!

Bottle dated 04/20/15 (very fitting given the name) poured into a tulip glass. Obviously I would've liked to have tried it fresher, but an imperial wheat IPA sounded intriguing and I never saw it in my local market, happened upon a bottle during a trip to the Redwoods.. Expecting a sweet malty mess, I was pleasantly surprised. Great appearance, though minimal head likely due to the age. Must be filtered as there was zero haze (puzzling given the name). Good nose, taste was sweet but not off-putting. Finish was good. Really want to try again fresh, think this could be quite interesting.

Pours a thick caramel color...lots of sediment...not surprisingly has a lot of caramel malt up front but chased quickly by tropical fruits and dank...interesting aftertaste...hard to pin down but enjoyable.

Poured a deep cloudy amber with volumes of visible suspended particulate. THe head is thick-ish and creamy white. It leaves a small amount of sticky/soapy head. The aroma is lacking, missing both qualities of a wheat beer and the bombastic hops I'd expect from an Imperial IPA. Faint whiffs of tropical fruit and caramel. The taste is equally disappointing and almost non-existent.The body has a nice weight to it and somehow manages a biting bitterness from the hops.

No Bottling info. Purchased as part of a mixed six at the Craft Beer Cellar in Westford Mass. on June 22nd.

Poured from the 12 oz. bottle into a Tree House tulip.

a: Hazy amber with a finger thick offwhite head which receded to thin surface foam and spotty lacing.

s: A rich ale-alcohol aroma.

t: Indeterminate fruit with considerable strength followed by a sharp hop bite. Bitterness lingers in the mouth. Bitter finish at first, mellows out to a sweeter one later.

m: Medium and very smooth to slick. Considerable carbonation tingle.

o: A roller coaster ride of flavors. Wish I could be sure how fresh this is, but there's no question that it's powerful. Definitely a sipper. The wheat in the malt end leaves the hops to rule, and they do so in no uncertain terms. Towards the end, however, a surprising and strong sweet caramel malt flavor comes to dominate. Me likey.

Poured into a Dogfish Head pint glass. Pours a medium coppery amber with extensive suspended particulates and a one finger off-white head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of caramel malt (surprisingly forward for a wheat ale, but smells good), light citrus and piney hops. Flavor is caramel and biscuir malt, pine and herbal hops, citrus, finishing with a lingering pleasant piney hop bitterness and malt. Medium bodied with active carbonation. The color and profile seem to be much closer to a red ale than a wheat ale, the hops and malt are assertive enough that there is little wheat flavor. I'm scoring this more to taste than style since I'm not sure that the listed American pale wheat ale was what was intended for this beer (which is called a wheat IPA on the label). I liked both the malt and hop bill and enjoyed this quite a bit. Recommended to fans of American red ales.

Appearance: rich orange hue with a ton of haze and a ha'finger of creamy ivory foam which dissipated leaving a nice lace. I actually rather like the look of it.

Smell: it's got kind of a strong-ale feel about it, with a wheaten character and some piney hops; it's almost like a light wheatwine. Not too bad.

Taste: a little less malty than the aroma and more hop-driven. Again, it's got that strong-ale bent to it. The finish is a little bit raspy and has a sweetness that's bordering on cloying. An interesting brew, but not my favorite.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a little bit of sticky syrup texture and a good carbonation. It works for me!

Overall: an interesting beer, probably worth trying if you're a fan of American strong ales. It's not like any other American pale wheat ale I've tried.

Picked this up in New York last week, having never had this before. I like American Pale Wheat Ales but this one, as so many on here have noted, missed the mark stylistically. This was too hoppy, strong, and lacking in wheat to make me think that this was a Wheat Ale and it seemed to be a generic IPA in so many senses of the word. While not a bad beer, there wasn't anything memorable about this but at least the alcohol didn't overpower what flavor could be found in this.

The pour to this was a dirty amber with quite a cloudy hue to this, but not in the sense that this was full of wheat. Instead, it was big chunks of what appeared to be sediment that never fully rose or settled down. Not a bad head to this but whatever lacing remained after each sip quickly slid down the side of my pint glass once I settled it down. Usual pine, metallic notes, and 420-type "skunk" in this without any citrus notes to balance it out. Some earthiness could be discerned and just a hint of grapefruit made its presence known before the not-so-pleasingly aftertaste kicked in. The carbonation was light and the mouthfeel bland, as some oil and resin really could have added some distinction to this.

Yes, this was strong but thankfully, the booze wasn't terribly overpowering. I picked up a hint of chili powder and bitter chocolate in this as I finished it off, which was the only surprise that this beer had in store for me. I like my American Pale What Ale but this paled (no pun intended) in comparison to the Bell's Oberon Ale or the Three Floyds Gumballhead. Take this for all it was - a poor man's Green Flash without the brightness of tropical fruit that elevates the beer. One bottle's enough for anyone.

T: Very mild citrusy and resinous hops up front. Decent amount of wheat. Pretty spicy, not sure if it's a hop presence or a rye malt maybe? I think it's sort of a spicy, resinous hop flavor if I had to guess. Mild wave of bitterness on the back end with some lingering spicy and citrusy hops in the aftertaste.

M: Medium bodied and mild.

O: Bottle states that this is an imperial wheat IPA. Interesting because I didn't find it overly hoppy, and not overly wheaty. It's not bad, it's mostly some spicy and resinous hop presence and not a whole lot else. Not even a ton of wheat - I'm assuming partial wheat bill and not 100%. It's okay, but not something I'd seek out again.

12 oz bottle from "lifesource" Salem OR $1.79 Hazy light amber ale with a large off white head..fades to luscious lace soon after pour. Very wheaty aroma, covering some nice floral hops. Taste is all rather balanced this a wheat ale on steroids balancing the hoppyness ..caramel /coffee on the finish. Palate is fine..no alcohol detected. Nice beer

Appearance: This beer poured a one finger head that reduced to a thin layer. It is a hazy pale orange color with some floating particles and bubbles seen coming up through the glass. Spotty lacing as the beer was drank too.

Smell: Sweet caramel malts, some orange, bready malts, alcohol, and candied citrus. The sweetness overpowers all of the hop characteristics.

Flavors of candi sugar, nectarine, grapefruit, apricot, caramel malts, generous toastiness, and Angostura bitters. A nuance of cantaloupe. Finishes with a dry, almost chalky, bitterness. The carbonation comes late, too, but the booze rides the whole journey. Hard to know what to make of it when guessing on what their intention was. Low carbonation, in general; especially in the opening sip. Languid medium-bodied brew with more implied sweetness than actual sweetness. It has tea-like hops, but they never fully take over. It's more of an Imperial Red Ale made with wheat malts than anything else. The shortness on character means that it fails to deliver. Skip it.

Pretty solid IPA. Good palate, creamy to begin with and a bite at the end. Just a touch resinous so it hangs on there a bit in your throat. Smells just like an IPA should. Downside: MAD yeast sludge at the bottom of the bottle that no amount of swirling will incorporate.

Thanks to WST for the west coast goodness!
Says Wheat IPA right on the bottle...

Pours into a pint glass with a thin layer of foam, which lasts for a minute then fades to a skim. No lacing, just a floating island skim in the center of the glass. Color is a deep saturated orange, slightly reddish and hazy.

Aroma is citrusy, with some light caramel malt sweetness. Very much an IPA.

Taste is also citrus and some herbal pine, resinous and moderately bitter. Finishes dry and bitter, with more piney hops lingering. The wheat lightens the body, more so than some IPAs. Carb is light and effervescent. Overall it's a good standard west coast IPA, nothing too out of the ordinary but it satisfies a hop craving.

Appearance- Pours up a minimal amount of head (about a finger) but has pretty good retention. The head is just slightly off-white with hints of yellow and beige while the body is a little more than a medium amber that glows medium amber when held up to the light. Some sheeting is around the surface of the beer.

Nose- Very subdued. I got a little bit of citrus (mostly tangerine, with some orange and lemon), some melon, and a tiny bit of cherry. Faint pine and resin in the background. Swirling reveals less than the original aroma. Faint whiff of mustiness.

Taste- Starts off with a lot of caramel that mixes with citrus (mostly orange) and then begins to become more bitter: orange peel, then wood, then earwax, then an almost raisin note of burnt caramel mixed with matchstick. Some tropical fruits but they are rather harsh and there is a slight astringency on the finish. Some heat and a longer linger of matchstick and burnt pine and resin. Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' this ain't. This will really have to mellow out for me to appreciate it. I like some of the aspects of the flavor profile but right now, it is way to messy. I like the caramel aspect but it's overwhelmed by the abrasive matchstick and grapefruit character of the hops. I can see how some might like it but this is not for me. Barely mediocre.

Mouthfeel- Light bodied with way too much carbonation. It, combined with the light heat and abrasive hops linger, makes for an almost searing beer.

Drinkability- The caramel tries to carry this but it's definitely a beer I will be drinking quickly rather than sipping. Just to get it out of the way. It's not a drain pour as it's fairly drinkable if the tastes are short and sweet, but it is definitely not a rebuy.

Overall- Average to perhaps, slightly below average. Pass on it. The flavor profile could have been interesting but everything else about the beer is so unbalanced, that it doesn't stand a chance.

The beer looked a shade darker in color than the typical IPA, and the body was also cloudier than typical. The head was two finger thick, and very durable. The smell was very spicy and resinous, with a backing of tropical fruit upon deeper breaths. The taste was quite bitter and followed by a banana like sweetness. The finish was spicy and herbal with a fading sweetness. Quite a bit more balanced than a typical DIPA, but not bland, as nether the hops nor the wheat malt took the back seat. A touch thinner on the palette than I like. Exceeded my expectations compared to the review score, so it tilts more towards my tastes I guess.

fantastic orange gold color with plenty of floating sediment. smell is wet herbal hops, lots of juicy fruit, alcohol, and an odd wet dog/plastic off smell. taste is like the scent at first, then bitter and spicy like rye. you get the wet vegetal hops and the juicier berry and citrus. the malt is bready and very much in the background. medium sweetness.

Appearance - Pours a hazy, rusty orange with a yellowish, off-white two finger head. Fair retention. Sediment is present and slowly sinks to the bottom. Lacing is spotty but with good stick.

Smell - Hops are predominant and citrus in character; orange with a touch of lemon. Wheat bread lingers beneath.

Taste - Follows the nose. Orange hop dominant. Wheat peeks through with a bread-like quality. Orange rind bitterness in the finish. A faint touch of heat on the tail end of the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel - Medium to full in body with moderate carbonation. Pretty meaty for the style. Not the smoothest beer in the world, but goes down well enough. Considering they were aiming for "Imperial" I'd say it's right about where it needs to be.

Overall - Another solid brew from Mad River. Can they do no wrong? The big question is this: Is it more a APWA or an IPA? I'd say IPA. The closest beer I've had to this is 3F's Gumballhead, though I prefer this one; while it's not as smooth as GBH, the flavor has more punch. All that said, I'm not all that sold on hoppy wheat beers. Too much contrast and clash in that earthy, mellow wheat backbone and the bright, sharp hop bite. Maybe less aggressive hops would work better. Fuggles, perhaps?

Pours a murky dark honey orange with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, wheat, earthy citrus zest, and alcohol aromas. Taste is much the same with citrus zest and earthy herbal hop flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer that is fairly tasty but is a bit unbalanced in favor of the hops in my opinion.